Talking to School

Sorry to those who follow for not writing anything in a while. I thought I hadn't done anything of note to write about but having looked back I think I have been wrong on that count.

The first interesting thing that happened was on the 3rd of this month I was re-baptised into the Church. It is a long story as to why I needed to be re-baptised but the main jist was I had much opposition in the beginning and I left. I then spent 2 years trying to reverse the effects but had even more opposition. However, when I look back I know that I wasn't strong or faithful enough the first time round and so when the inevitable hard times came I just crumbled. In the 4 years since I was first baptised I have grown up a wee bit and am stronger now in the faith and with the support of so many friends I have made it. I know the biggest support was my wife, who has put up with so much from me about the situation, like my depression, my disagreements and downright rudeness about certain Church policies/members. She has been an amazing example to me throughout it all and it is one of the many things that I am eternally grateful for in my wife.

So when I was baptised in October 2008 it was done in the sea, on the West Coast of the Island at a place called Glen Wyllin. I chose there because my Grandparents ashes were scattered there, it was a place I had been throughout my childhood with my Gaga walking the dog, Fred. It was very cold and the sea was rough, myself and my baptiser, Ron Clarke, were covered by waves at least 3 times before I went under officially. It was a good baptism, many people attended and I knew it was the right thing to do. This time, after getting the approval from the Mission President back in October, I decided it was best to have a baptism in the front where it is nice a warm. Markku, our Branch President, suggested we could be baptised on the 3rd of November as there was another baptism taking place before it. I asked Tanja's Brother, Janne, to baptise me and her Father to confirm me.I only wanted a small baptism, with the Family and a few close friends. Unfortunately one of my friends broke her foot on the night and so she and her husband spent the next few hours at Casualty, which meant another friend had to babysit their child and another friend was unwell. But I did have Tanja's family present, Tiina and the Missionary Couple and Sisters there, plus Markku who was in charge of it. It was a very good, quick and simple service. I was glad the end of a long journey was over but also knew it was the start of another long journey, but one I am prepared for.

After the injury, my friend Iida, was on crutches to support her foot. Tanja and I had said if we could help in anyway we just had to be contacted. Later on that week Iida asked if I come round to help. It was good to spend time with an old friend again and we caught up and spoke about many things, some of them including books which we both love. A couple of hours later her mother arrived to 'take over' from me but we had walnut ice cream before I left, which is rather tasty. We also talked about Finnish things, like the history and traditional songs. I really enjoyed it all, having friends is good, no matter who or where you are, friends are very important.

Another exciting thing I did was do a talk at a local school. A teacher at my wife's workplace had once asked who I was when Tanja and I had gotten the car from her father one day. Upon hearing I am from the Isle of Man, she asked if I could give a talk to her students. So I had given two talks to her classes on my two previous trips to Finland. Well, she approached my wife and asked if I could give another talk to her culture class. There was no way I could refuse, I love the Isle of Man and telling people all about the wonderful Island I came from, so I spent a week preparing a slideshow and a talk to go with it. I thought the talk would last about 30/40 minutes giving a 10-15 minute Q&A at the end, it turned out my talk was about 20 minutes but I did get asked a lot of questions which helped bulk it out. At the end she thanked me and I gave her one of the Finnish/Manx flag pins. Well I know I will be invited to do another talk in the future and now have a base in which to improve on my original talk. It was really good to talk about my Home and about all the interesting history and folklore, I saw enough smiles and chuckles to know that the students enjoyed it.

Well that is all for now, not much else has happened. Hoping that work will come soon. I am going to see the new Twilight tonight with Tanja and two friends, i've seen the other ones so I have to see how it all ends. Will not leave the next update 3 weeks this time, I promise.